What a relief to return to the land of the free to do some work on this 1995 single from The Smashing Pumpkins. Bullet With Butterfly Wings was widely acclaimed for its musicianship. But what about that cover? Where to begin? Where, for one, is any connection to the band itself? Second, there seems to be on connection whatsoever to a bullet of any kind (only in your wildest imagination could, perhaps, the rip in the page have been caused by a bullet but the cut is so clean and symetrical that it is highly unlikely). Lastly, where's the butterfly? Overall the cover scores 0 out of 10, even if the song is a rock classic.

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Like many songs it is both likely and possible that there is a likelihood of the possibility of the name of the song and it's awful cover, being a metaphor for something else. Like a rabbit with a headache or something. But analyzing it further is not going to produce any sense so instead the cover has been replaced by a naked girl wearing butterfly wings. Why? Well, it stems from the fact that the title has the word butterfly in it mostly. That, and the fact that the naked girl is very cute and would look great on the cover of any single (whether that be a single song or a single guy). That obvious enough for you?

No. Sorry. Don't understand a word of it. The e-mail that arrived with this remixed cover comes from, apparently, someone calling themself Tabbo of Manchester in England. Tabbo says he knows about this site and then says:

Youze aarn't fekk'n doddlin' it reet.

Aarn't it indeed? Well rather than leave you with the rest of Tabbo's musings on Mr William's and his cover, instead the original is presented here for your reference. According to Tabbo:

Hezz fekk'n twat haircut is shite.

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What a relief to find that Tabbo's work on remixing the cover in the AllBum.Art style has yielded something that is both a vast improvement over the original picture of Mr Williams, but is also comprehensible. Given the rest of the 'tripe' spoken by Tabbo, you might have expected his remixed single cover for Angels to have been some drug crazed nonsense. But instead it shows two picturesque angels. It is often said that drugs brings out the best in people, at least by drug addicts if no-one else. Though not even Tabbo would be bold enough to make that statement. He can have the last word:

Is he or isn't he? He certainly was originally. Later, perhaps he wasn't. The question of whether Michael Jackson was Black Or White was a regular discussion in many bars across the nation, at least it was when anyone could give a damn. In this song, Mr Jackson says that it doesn't matter whether you are black or white. But what if you're neither of these? What about yellow, pink or brown. Or if you are from Alpha Centuri and are green, then what? Or silver? Mr Jackson probably meant to say that it really doesn't matter what color you are, you will still look like a complete idiot trying to do the moonwalk.

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What the original cover for this 1991 single provides is any true test as to whether it matters or not whether you, or anyone else for that matter, is black or white. The remixed cover allows you to take this decision for yourself. Mr Jackson's spooky eyebrows have been replaced by a black girl, and a white girl, in a close embrace. It is down to you to decide whether it matters what color you are, or they are, or green aliens from Alpha Centuri are. But from the looks of the two girls, either will do just fine and there can be no doubt that either of them are a damn sight better at letting you make a decision on color than Mr Jackson is.

There aren't many songs with the words 'sexy' and 'girls' in the title and so it was a joy to find this 1994 single which, to be fair, is very obscure but does at least offer the chance for a really good remix of the cover artwork. The original cover has a girl in a t-shirt with the word Nush on it on an extreme close-up that only shows her chest. Beneath this is the title of the track U Girls (Look So Sexy). But there is only one girl on the cover, and she doesn't look that sexy either as all you can see is her freaking t-shirt, though it would appear that she may not be wearing a bra and thus there is a tempting but nonetheless obscured hint of a nipple (or two).

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The remixed version really does live up to the name of the song. Gone is the one t-shirt bedecked female, replaced by four girls who are totally naked, unless you count the pearl necklaces they are wearing (why they should all be wearing these is a mystery, perhaps they belong to some pearl-related cult). They could, of course, be wearing legwarmers and given their sexy gait, are most likely wearing high heels, but these are out of shot so it's not possible to tell. They definitely look so sexy as they all have super peachy asses. Does that make them Nush?

The Madonna song Rain was released in 1993 and was taken from her album Erotica. The album was published together with a book called Sex which showed Ms Ciccone in many shades of undress but this is not reflected in the cover for this single. The cover for Rain has a picture from Ms Ciccone singing in front of a microphone. There is no evidence of precipiation on the cover whatsoever. This is obviously because the picture was taken indoors and whilst it was raining outdoors, this is not apparent due to the intervening walls. At about this time, Madonna appeared to be very into Japanese culture and the picture is therefore most likely to have been taken on the stage in a Karaoke bar which is perhaps why it is a little blurry.

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The song remains very popular in Japan to this day and is often sung in karaoke bars including the increasingly popular naked karaoke bars (such as the 'Lamp Turtle Song House' bar in Tokyo). In the revised cover, the picture of Ms Ciccone has clearly had her go at singing and the next singer has taken the stage. Whether this is at the Lamp Turtle Song House or a different naked karaoke bar is unclear, however what is clear is that the new singer is naked (or at least is most likely to be as there is no evidence of clothing). Again, the question of whether or not it is raining does not have a definitive answer but if it was raining when Ms Ciccone was on stage and this is the next singer, unless it was a very short, sharp shower, the downfall outside must still be continuing.

As titles for songs go, the 1990 hit from Blue Pearl called Naked In The Rain is like a red rag to a bull when it comes to possible twists on the cover art for the single. The original cover shows a blue pearl, which is one of the rarest colours of pearl. The pearl is sat amidst some material which appears to be silk and is also blue in colour. It could be argued that as the pearl is not covered up, it is naked. There is no rain though and although the title of the song is Naked In The Rain, the lyrics make it quite clear that the idea is to go 'dancing naked in the rain'. Pearls, being blobs of calcium carbonate, are unlikely to be able to go dancing and thus the cover of the single, whilst a good attempt, does fail to reflect the charisma of the song.

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In the revised version, we find a naked girl (or at least she appears naked from the waist upwards, and it must therefore be presumed, especially as she is clearly quite wet, that she hasn't bothered to dress at all). The naked girl is standing in what looks like rain, though given the fact that it is dark, it is not clear whether this is real rain or simulated rain. Either way, water is pouring in drops and covering her body. Is she dancing? Well, she's not having a shower (you can tell because she isn't all soapy and her pose is not one that is normally associated with showering). She may not be dancing, but she is striking a pose so maybe she is dancing to Madonna's Vogue? There does not appear to be a pearl in the picture, but that is not the case - the naked girl is called 'Pearl' and is clearly a precious jewel too.

Tink Delorio writes to us from New York (birthplace of Mariah Carey). He says:

It's not often that the cover of a single leaves little to be improved upon. But as Mariah is so cute and has great boobs which are virtually on full display, the cover of the single Heartbreaker should be honored on your site as one that needs no forbetterance.

First off, is 'Tink' really your name. Isn't it short for something. Second, is 'forbetterance' a word?

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If you are trying to say that you think Mariah is cute and you are happy not to see her tits, then go Tink. But to suggest that there is no forbetterance to be had is pure fortinkerollox (not a great word but you get the idea). What if the lady were not Mariah but someone even more curvy? And what if her t-shirt was pulled up so far that her (exceptionally large) tits were much more visible? Wouldn't that make the cover far, far, better? Such a cover would look something like that on the right, see? Now Tink, doesn't that deliver you the forbetterance you seek?

The cover for CJ Lewis's 1994 cover version of The Drifters classic Sweets For My Sweet appeared on the radar thanks to an e-mail from Reg Spineby of England (whose Samantha Fox cover is featured on the site). Reg says that he long wondered what the connection is between the song and the picture of the lady flashing (what exactly?) at Mr Lewis on the cover of the single. Reg says that as far as he knows, none of the words sweet, sugar or honey (which all appear in the song) are English slang for 'lift up your skirt and show me what's underneath', though Reg does admit to not being 100% sure of whether such slang may have existed in the 1990s.

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That was the 1990s, and things have moved on since then in many different ways. Firstly, whatever English slang may have been trying to say, it would now be just as easy to say to the lady in question, 'lift up your skirt and show us what's underneath' as Reg tells us that such language is now commonplace in English nightclubs. In the updated cover for the song, the lady has continued to remove her clothes and to flash things at Mr Lewis. Mr Lewis himself has also changed, as has the color of his couch, but it's likely that the original one from the 1990s is now rather decrepit. It is still not 100% clear what the lady is attempting to show Mr Lewis but one thing is certain, she has a mighty fine ass.

"Strike A Pose". Those were the instructions that Madonna gave us in her 1990 single Vogue. On the cover we see Ms Ciccone striking some kind of pose, though one which most visibly suggest that she is suffering from some kind of back pain. The video for Vogue is much more true to the concept of 'vogueing' with dancers flailing their hands around in a wild and weird fashion before freezing in whatever position they end up in when Ms Ciccone instructs them to. What is also evident from the video is that you should be wearing a see-through top with no bra, or as with the cover of the single, a corset and stockings, when vogueing (and that goes for both sexes).

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Here we see four ladies who have taken the idea of vogueing to a new level. Gone are the see-through tops and lack of bra, they have foregone the corset and stockings, in fact other than shoes and socks (which are not visible in the picture and thus we can not tell whether they are wearing any), they have foregone all clothing in the hope of achieving the ultimate vogue pose. Unfortunately for them, it appears that at the moment that Ms Ciccone gave them the instruction to 'Strike A Pose', the poses they were left striking, were not. Not striking that is. Which is a shame, as they look like they are capable of striking a striking pose if they posed differently to the pose they are posing in the picture.

'Tis the season to be jolly, being December, so time to return to the Holiday theme with this 1981 classic from The Waitresses. In the song, Christmas Wrapping, the waitresses appear to have forgotten something and call around at the shop to get it (cranberry sauce or some such necessity). Whilst at the shop, having decided that they won't be doo-ing Christmas, they bump into a guy who seems equally pissed at (or on) seasonal cheer and what do you know, they get it together and enjoy the day after all. Happily ever after, or at least until Boxing Day when they guy concerned wakes up and realizes that the cover of their single is one of the most boring Christmas pieces of album art that exists.

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In the new cover, we now see two young ladies who could very much be waitresses dressed in festive outfits ready to wait upon those in need of seasonal sustenance. They seem in a very cheerful mood and are giving each other a hug. No doubt it's a bit cold in December wearing just a red bikini and a Santa hat. Note that the bikinis do not have any white fur trimming, and therefore the ladies are clearly not Canadian. If these are indeed the Waitresses, then perhaps the guy they meet at the store wakes up happier than he has previously been given credit for. If only this had been the original cover for the single, they might have got an offer from the guy (or many others) without the need to have driven down to the shops.